1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, which executes variable print processing, a print job control method, and a storage medium storing a program thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
The demand for variable print processing that prints data and meets the needs of individual customers has been increasing. A variable print job (VDP job) prints registered customer data for respective records per print job. Therefore, one print job includes tens of thousands of records. In the VDP job, VDP objects are associated with respective records, and are printed while being composited with a master object as a background. The VDP job includes a plurality of records which are basically managed for each job. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-75634 describes a method that allows recovery control for each record as a recovery method at the time of occurrence of errors. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-75634 describes variable print processing in which when an error has occurred while print data are generated for respective records, print processing is continued while switching the processing order to a later record. Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-75634 describes that variable print data for re-print processing including a record which has caused the error is automatically generated. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-269261 describes that a print job associated with variable print processing is to be managed (deleted, paused, and order-changed) for respective records.
On the other hand, in the market, needs for subset finishing that allows a plurality of different subsets to be set in a single job are high. Note that a subset is a set of pages defined in a single print job. Different subset settings mean a case in which “stapling” is set in a certain subset, but not in another subset. As a principal use of such subset print processing, texts to be distributed are known. Each text to be distributed includes a plurality of subsets bound by a binder, and respective subsets can have different print settings.
By combining the aforementioned subset finishing and VDP print processing, print processing can be done for respective records for each user, and finishing settings can be customized for respective subsets. As a result, highly customized texts and brochures can be created.
When the subset finishing and VDP print processing are combined, one print job includes various types of printing media settings, finishing settings, and discharge destination settings. As a result, print processing may be interrupted by a paper feed error or tray full error, resulting in a drop of the overall productivity. However, the conventional VDP print processing does not consider any combination with the subset finishing. That is, since the conventional VDP print processing allows only control for respective records, some subsets in records are suspended for each record although their print processing can be continued. Hence, for example, when a paper feed error has occurred at a head position of a record, and the same paper type setting is made for all head records, print processing of all the records is consequently interrupted. However, when a job can be suspended for each subset, since some subsets in a record can be continuously printed, the overall print processing need not be interrupted. When a job can be suspended only for each record, since subsets, which have already been printed, have to be re-printed, they are redundantly printed. When a record includes many pages, a re-print time is also prolonged.
Also, processing for reducing an interrupt count of print processing can be done only for each record. Therefore, for a print job of the subset finishing, which allows different settings for respective subsets, the processing for reducing an interrupt count of print processing is not optimal.